{"id":2355019,"date":"2026-04-02T02:40:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2355019"},"modified":"2026-04-02T02:40:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:40:51","slug":"royals-place-carlos-estevez-on-il-with-left-foot-contusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-place-carlos-estevez-on-il-with-left-foot-contusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals place Carlos Est\u00e9vez on IL with left foot contusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kansas City Royals closer Carlos Est\u00e9vez was placed on the 15-day injured list<\/a> Wednesday with a left foot contusion.<\/p>\n

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Est\u00e9vez, 33, was injured last Saturday<\/a> against the Atlanta Braves. He was hit by a line drive in the ninth inning of the Royals\u2019 6-2 loss.<\/p>\n

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The Royals evaluated Est\u00e9vez earlier this week. As Est\u00e9vez recovers, the plan is to continue throwing while he is sidelined.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s going to continue to throw, probably at 60-75 feet, so he doesn\u2019t have to put too much tension on it or pressure on it, as I should say,\u201d Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. \u201cAnd then, as the symptoms resolve, he\u2019ll get on the mound and then he\u2019ll build up a progression. He\u2019ll have to go out and pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Royals recalled right-handed pitcher Steven Cruz from Triple-A Omaha. Cruz recorded a 3.74 ERA in 47 appearances<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe really like Cruzy,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cI mean, that was a really tough decision for us to send him down. We think he is a big part of this team going forward. The growth he\u2019s had since the time we acquired him has been phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cruz can fit a variety of roles. The Royals will insert him into a reshuffled bullpen against the Minnesota Twins. It\u2019s likely right-hander Lucas Erceg will get the first shot at potential save opportunities.<\/p>\n

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Other late-inning candidates include John Schreiber, Alex Lange, and Matt Strahm.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe really like Lucas in the back end,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cBut if there is a huge spot in the eighth, you know, he\u2019s going to be in there for that as well. He\u2019s well aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Est\u00e9vez has a chance to regain his form. He dealt with low velocity this spring \u2014 averaging 90-92 mph with his fastball<\/a> \u2014 and looked out of sync. The Royals will work alongside Est\u00e9vez to refine his pitching mechanics in hopes of restoring his velocity.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCarlos needs to pitch,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that likes to throw. He throws a lot, and the more games we get him in, the better he is going to be. … We\u2019re not going to go where we want to go without him being a big part of that bullpen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Royals could utilize Est\u00e9vez in low-leverage situations when he returns. If he can regain his velocity, the club will have an All-Star reliever back in the fold.<\/p>\n

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Last season, Est\u00e9vez led the majors with 42 saves.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know what I can do,\u201d Est\u00e9vez said after his blown save in Atlanta. \u201cI know my stuff. I know it\u2019s a tough game, but at the same time, I\u2019ve done it before. I know how to get back to that. And like I said, I\u2019ve got to pound the strike zone and that\u2019s gonna make it a lot harder for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For now, Cruz will help fill the void. He worked on his slider this offseason and is excited to help the Royals achieve their goal of returning to the postseason.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEveryone is pulling the same way,\u201d Cruz said via a translator. \u201c(We want to) win and make it back to the playoffs and the World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kansas City Royals closer Carlos Est\u00e9vez was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with a left foot contusion. Est\u00e9vez, 33, was injured last Saturday against the Atlanta Braves. He was hit by a line drive in the ninth inning of the Royals\u2019 6-2 loss. The Royals evaluated Est\u00e9vez earlier this week. As Est\u00e9vez recovers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2056456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[457138,308583,342885,43627,340583],"class_list":["post-2355019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-bullpen-depth","tag-carlos-estevez","tag-injured-list","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-steven-cruz"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Cole-Ragans-shines-as-KC-Royals-finish-2025-on-high.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2355019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2355020,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355019\/revisions\/2355020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2355019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2355019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2355019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}